OLD TOWN, Maine — A woman found dead Monday alongside the body of her longtime boyfriend has been positively identified as Darlene Gross and the couple may have overdosed on drugs, according to police.
The bodies of Mark “Putty” Savage Jr., 33, and Gross, 54, were discovered by Old Town police in an apartment on Water Street after the couple failed to meet with an acquaintance Monday, who called police asking for a welfare check.
“Both lived at the apartment and both deaths are being investigated as drug overdoses,” Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland said in a Friday email.
Savage’s family said they are grieving for both Savage and his girlfriend while investigators continue to look into the cause of their deaths.
“Missing you both so much,” Savage’s aunt Gladys Gagnon of Brewer posted on her Facebook page, along with a photo of the couple she gave permission to the Bangor Daily News to use.
The couple was last heard from Sept. 1, and their apartment was locked when police arrived. Their apartment building is located next to Napa Auto Parts in downtown Old Town.
Autopsies conducted Tuesday by the state medical examiner’s office showed no signs of foul play. Toxicology tests have been ordered, McCausland said earlier this week.
“The delay was only because we needed to confirm the identity [of the woman] via DNA testing, which was successful and came back late yesterday,” Mark Belserene, spokesman for the Maine medical examiner’s office, said Friday in an email.
The Maine State Police’s Major Crime Unit North is handling the investigation.
“The case is still pending further studies,” Belserene said. “We are waiting for toxicology results to be received.”